The invention relates to sealing strips, and more particularly to sealing strips for providing a seal around openings which may, for example, be closable by doors or windows. One exemplary application of such sealing strips is in the construction of vehicle bodies.
Sealing strips are known which comprise a longitudinal gripping portion for supporting the sealing strip in position and a longitudinal sealing portion on and running along the outside of the gripping portion. The gripping portion may, for example, be channel-shaped in cross-section and comprise metal reinforcement covered with flexible covering material. The sealing portion may comprise tubular elastomeric material. Such sealing strips are sufficiently flexible to enable them to follow smooth curves in the profile of a door opening.
However, a problem arises when the door frame to which such a sealing strip is to be attached includes a sharp corner, such as an acute-angled corner for example, since it is not possible to bend the sealing strip sufficiently sharply to match the corner, and it will part from the door frame at the corner leaving a gap which is imperfect both from an appearance and a sealing point of view.
In order to deal with this problem, it is known to cut a sealing strip into two lengths and then to shape the two cut ends suitably and to attach them together to form a mitered butt joint to match the corner in the door frame. This procedure however is not entirely satisfactory. It is time-consuming and therefore unsatisfactory for mass production purposes. Furthermore, inevitably it weakens the support of the gripping portion at the actual corner. If the gripping section is metal-reinforced then the cutting operation may involve cutting through the metal reinforcement.
An object of the invention is to provide an improved method of forming a corner in a length of sealing strip.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved sealing strip adapted to fit a corner.